Annual Easter Egg hunt warms chilly morning in St. Regis for dozens of kids
5 and 6-year-olds scooped up eggs and candy during the annual Easter Egg Hunt in St. Regis. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
The 9 and 10-year-olds raced around the baseball field and flag pole in the St. Regis Park on Saturday to hunt for eggs and prizes. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
8-year-old Austin Hotchkiss (far left) won the boys bike in a raffle held after the egg hunt. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
Preschoolers lined up with their plastic bags, baskets, and even a Halloween container to gather up candy and eggs. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
Brooklyn, 8, (left), Madison Downing (middle), and Kody Crane (right) race to get eggs and candy. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
Marley Downing, 5, won the girls bike in a raffle during the Easter Egg Hunt, donated by Tricon Timber with Easter Bunny Amanda Scott, Kassie Perkins (right) and older sister, Madison (left). (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
The older kids scout around the flag pole searching for eggs and candy. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
Kids pick out the toys they want, which were donated by local businesses and the St. Regis Community Council. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
A preschool girls cautiously picks up candy and eggs and puts them into her basket. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
This preschool boy fills his basket with goodies. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
Loads of prizes were donated for the annual Easter Egg Hunt in St. Regis on Saturday. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
Seger Triplett, 2, examines a toy with his dad. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
There were slips of paper in some eggs that had prize numbers or “pick a prize”. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
It was a chilly 37 degree morning when residents across Mineral County prepared for annual Easter egg hunts. They were held in Alberton, sponsored by the Alberton Ridgerunners, and by the Mineral County Search and Rescue in Superior. In St. Regis the hunt took place in the town park and was sponsored by the local community council. Kassie Perkins sat at a picnic table and wrote kids names on tickets for two bicycles to be raffled off. The bikes were donated by Tricon Timber, and the Lincoln $50,000 Bar and The Gift Shop in St. Regis donated a lot of the other gifts which lined tables under the covered picnic area. Perkins said other businesses in the area, as well as in Missoula also donated items for the event. The St. Regis Community Council also donated $300 for gifts.
Plastic eggs dotted the lawn around the baseball field, filled with candy and slips of paper which represented the prizes. Some were for specific items, the other slips said “pick a prize” and kids could choose what they wanted. As the crowd waited, kids wandered between the tables and scouted out the prizes they wanted to take home. The Easter Bunny, a.k.a. Amanda Scott, hopped between groups and took selfies with friends and photos with the youngsters.
The sun peered out periodically from behind cloudy skies, warming the crowd as they waited for the hunt to begin. The preschool kids would go first, and waited near their mark with baskets, plastic shopping bags and even a Halloween plastic pumpkin. Whatever it will took to fill up with candy and treats.
The next group to go were five and six year olds, followed by seven and eight. They all took a scattergun approach to the field of goodies and scooped everything up in sight within a few minutes. Then the older kids raced around the ball field and the flag pole to retrieve their pastel colored eggs and candy.
As each group finished, they presented their slips of paper to volunteers at the tables who handed out tons of toys to the excited youngsters. The last item on the agenda was the bike raffle, where five-year-old Marley Downing won the pretty pink bike, and eight-year-old Austin Hotchkiss won the boys bike.